That may have been the most memorable moments in the whole series, which is saying something. In fact, I think he robbed Isiah Whitlock of the catch phrase. I also had no idea he went to Michigan. Now doubly bummed.

I think Calvin Anderson is now the most important. Will directly affect the 2018 season in a huge way, and that season will be tremendously important for the trajectory of the program. But hey, hopefully we get both!

...I've done this a few times. But having two small kiddos makes it harder. Because obviously you need to watch as soon as you wake up or you may somehow hear the score. And small kiddos (1.5 and 4yo) are not interested in watching football when they wake up at 6am on a Sunday. They want to be fed and entertained.

And the way the night games have gone of late meant I wasn't up for the battle to watch this season. I hated not watching MSU and PSU this season, but also knew I was probably better off.

A B1G in-season basketball game shouldn't be that hard especially just a few hours later.

The PROBLEM is actually that when you are watching, you know you are not watching live. So the emotions are slightly dulled. The feeling of "when I stood up off the couch we got a first down, so now I have to stand the rest of the game" does not exist. And you also know if, say the game ended on a last-second shot, all of your friends would call each other right away. You will be late for any such moment.

(B, I still vivdly remember you pointing out the ref with the OPI flag in his hand later that day. I couldn't believe it.)

When friends told me I had to go, I was easily convinced. Six months after graduation meant student-tickets were not feasible, and I tried every available avenue to get them to no avail. I made the trip anyway.

Long story short, I unkowingly ended up a with an (after a brief examination obviously) fake ticket and hardly any remaining money. But I was able to use it to enter the stadium, duck security, and bounce from open seat to open seat until I finally found one where the person did not return.

So it was a triumphant day all around. Great write-up, Sap. This season hasn't worked out so well, but it's a good excuse to remember the best one we've had. Thanks so much for this series.

Thanks as always, Bronx. Still so impressed that you can get these out given your family situation is similar to mine...

Worst: ESPN coverage. (Not the announcers who were pretty good.) They probably spent half of their footage time on crowd reactions, player close-ups, or coaches calling in plays. They missed countless snaps and never showed the formations. There was zero view downfield (in part because of the low camera angle which may be a stadium issue?), so we have no idea how bad the receivers were at getting open. And there was generally a dearth of replays except for Nanni in the onion costume. Don’t get me wrong, I’m angrier about the play than this, but it did make the experience all the more frustrating.

In the video the ball has already been snapped a split-second before that clip starts. O'Korn is catching it at the moment the clip begins. So we would need to see from about one second earlier to know whether this was a a delay of game or not.

Great report my old friend! You’re a man after my own heart. I’d love to compare notes sometime. it’s now been 10 years since I finished my football trip. Unfortunately I have the wife and kids thing so it’ll be a while before the next one.

The South contingent claim "we all know Peyton was better." And "it's all the media's fault." This has been a common narrative ever since - that ABC wanted Woodson to win to better promote their football product. There's certainly a cultural aspect to this, and it continues with the "ESS EEE SEE"-ing of their region.

This isn't Italy's situation where they were in a one-team-qualifies group with Spain and then lost the play-in matches on a 1-0 aggregate.

Yes teams 3-6 were only two points apart in the South American standings, and they ended up #6. Tie or win one more match and they would have qualified. But they went 1-3 in their last three matches, including losses to Bolivia(!) and Paraguay.

If your point is that more South American teams deserve to qualify, then I get what you're saying. Seems imbalanced based on their current level of play and performance in the last World Cup.

Also, I root for Argentina, and after losing on penatlies to them in the last two finals, screw those guys! ...